1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an air bag module mounted steering wheel which includes an air bag module for protecting the head portion and other body portions near the head portion of an occupant who is seated in a driver's seat of a vehicle.
2. Related Art
Conventionally, in air bag module mounted steering wheels of the type described above, there have been proposed to adopt a snap-fit system which makes use of elastic deformations of constituent members for assembling an air bag module onto a steering wheel main body in a convenient manner as a fixing system of the air bag module.
For example, in a steering wheel described in JP-A-2004-323010, two snap-fit portions are provided in positions which are spaced apart from each other, and each of the two snap-fit portions is made up of a clip which is mounted on a steering wheel main body and which deforms elastically and a pin which is provided on an air bag module and which has a recessed portion formed on an outer circumferential surface thereof. Then, when the air bag module is assembled onto the steering wheel main body, the clip and the pin are brought into engagement with each other in each of the snap-fit portions.
In addition, in a steering wheel described in JP-A-2004-256078, two snap-fit portions are provided in positions which are spaced apart from each other, and each of the two snap-fit portions is made up of a claw portion provided on a steering wheel main body and a bar spring provided on an air bag module. Then, when the air bag module is assembled onto the steering wheel main body, the claw portion and the bar spring are brought into engagement with each other in each of the snap-fit portions.
Incidentally, in the steering wheels adopting the snap-fit systems described above, since engagement is performed within the respective snap-fit portions, it is difficult to visualize the engaged conditions of the snap-fit portions. Because of this, for example, it is also difficult to be easily aware of a condition in which one of the snap-fit portions is in engagement, whereas the other snap-fit portion is out of engagement or a condition in which there is occurring an error in assembling the air bag module onto the steering wheel main body, and hence, with those steering wheels, there still exists room for improvement.